Naming the Film

Naming this film wasn’t about aesthetics or just picking something that sounded cool. It was about finding a title that could carry the weight of the story. A psychological thriller centered around trauma, guilt, and self-righteous violence. The film isn’t bound to one event or moment. It is the portrait of a man unraveling under the illusion of moral authority. That meant the title had to reflect not just what happens, but who it happens to and why. 2009

The first name that came to mind was 2009. That’s the year everything changed, when Saif and Zain beat up Ikhlaq. That single act becomes the spine of the narrative. It lingers and mutates, re-emerging in twisted forms. But the more I sat with it, the more it felt limiting. 2009 felt too cold and timestamped. This story stretches far beyond a calendar year. It is about aftermath, about a character’s descent. Reducing it to a date undersold the transformation. The Crooked/False Judge

Then came The Crooked Judge and The False Judge. These were direct and thematically accurate. Saif quite literally assumes the role of judge, jury, and executioner. But these names explained too much. They gave away the moral conflict before the film had time to earn it. Gunehgaar

Gunehgaar came next, which means 'sinner'. There’s something raw about that word, something personal. It carries spiritual and cultural weight, especially in the context of this film’s setting and its exploration of guilt. I liked it, but it was a bit too internal. Too intimate. And I needed a title that would land even without translation. The film speaks in silences and subtext. The title needed to echo that.

Which led me to The Executioner.

It wasn’t just a job title. It was a mindset. An identity the protagonist assigns to himself. It does not label him as good or bad, just someone who believes he has the right to decide. It raises questions instead of answering them. Who gets to punish? Who decides what justice is? What if the executioner is also the sinner?

The title gave the film its final form. Not a story about what happened in 2009, but about who emerged from it. It made the narrative feel inevitable.

And maybe a little tragic.